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F2 'is an American cable and satellite-exclusive television network owned and operated by ''The Independent Networks. The channel launched in December 10, 2001, with test broadcasts from June 2000 until June 2001 and from July 2001 until November 10, 2001. Its programming were mainly consists of general entertainment, sitcoms, comedy, reality, animation, game shows, movies (from G to PG-13 only), music videos, some sports, and drama (as well as local programming). Initially, airs from 6:00AM to 11:00PM (on weekdays) and 5:30AM to 12:00MN on weekends, but later, it is later aired 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. F2 is (currently) available via most cable providers via the United States and Canada, via C-band satellite (AMC-18, DVB-S2 only), via DirecTV and Dish Network and via Google Fiber, U-VERSE and FiOS and via online streaming (only available in the United States). History Pre-launch (1999-2001) In 1999, The Independent Networks founded. They started a test broadcast for a pay television network called "'''Independent Network" via one of the C-band broadcasting satellites (which was scrambled with VideoCipher 2/''DigiCipher 2'') in June 2000 until January 11, 2001, which is later changed to "F2" and it continued until November 10, 2001 (which as the day the 30-day countdown starts). During the test broadcasts of F2, various promotions of original and acquired programming were started to broadcast, as well as a promo for this channel. Launch (2001-2002) On December 10, 2001 at 6:00AM, the countdown timer ends with the current logo is shown, before a montage of original programming and acquired programming was shown. The first program to air on F2 is "This Morning", a breakfast program that is still showing today. One month later, it's broadcasting schedule is changed to 24 hours. Expansion and new original programming (2002-2004) In 2002, the broadcasting schedule is changed to 24 hours. Lately in 2002, new more original programming were introduced, such as "The Talk" (a daytime talk show), "On The Run" (a today's pop culture/celebrity news show), "News Hour" (a news interstitial each hour), "The Drive" (the first reality program to be aired on F2), "Trivia Pop" (a trivia-based game show about pop culture), and notably "The Live Hour" (a late night lounge program similar to most late night programs) and "The Store" (a paid programming/infomercial-based program after "The Live Hour"). In 2003 until the present day, there are new programming blocks on F2, these are: * The Movie Night (consists of movies that were edited in-house for a young-younger audience, ages 9-16) (prime time, every holidays or occasionally on Saturdays) * Music Mondays (consists of a music video in a similar way that MTV did, most of the music came from the "Big Four/Big Three" record labels, while the rest of the music are from minor record labels) (airs every Monday at a random hour) * Paid Programming (consisted of a series of infomercials and the show The Store) (every day during midnight until 6:00 AM) * Animation Hour '''(consisted of cartoons that were syndicated from TV stations, this includes some classic animated TV shows from the 80s and the 90s and mostly cartoons from the 2000s) (discontinued in favour of the channel F2 Animation in 2008) * '''Game Night (consists of syndicated game shows such as Wheel Of Fortune, Jeopardy! and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire ''and the show Trivia Pop) (every Friday-Saturdays at prime time, including on certain holidays) Around that time, the official website of F2 was launched, it features news and information about their original and acquired programming, as well as channel-related information. Multiplexes (2004-2006) In 2004, five new channels from ''The Independent Networks ''had been announced, this includes: * F2 East (launched in December 10, 2005) * F2 West (launched in January 11, 2006) * F2 Music East (launched alongside with the West Coast feed on January 12, 2007) * F2 Music West (launched alongside with the East Coast feed on January 12, 2007) * F2 Plus East (launched alongside with the West Coast feed on June 2006) * F2 Plus West (launched alongside with the East Coast feed on June 2006) * F2 Animation (launched in June 2008) (consists of animated shows acquired from ''Warner Bros./''Cartoon Network'', plus reruns of 90s animated shows and early 2000s animated shows from Hanna-Barbera, Warner Bros. and others) * F2 Latin (launched in September 2008) (Latin version of F2) F2 began splitting their East/West feeds onto their satellites, alongside with F2 Plus on June 2006 and F2 Music on 2007. F2 also launched a dedicated animation channel on June 2008, as well as the Latin version of F2 in September 2008. High definition (2006-2008) In 2006, F2 East and F2 Plus East are performing a test HD broadcast via various cable operators, via AMC-11/18 C-Band satellite and via DirecTV/Dish Network. On December 31, 2008, all of the F2 channels that were on analog feed were removed from via various cable operators that were carrying analog channels and via one of the C-Band satellites that still carries analog channels.